Friday, January 7, 2011

Invertebrates(Matthias,Daniel,Mikhael)

Characteristics Of Invertebrates

Invertebrates - Animals with no backbones or spinal columns.-characteristics of invertebrates differ from group to group.-There are over 30 phylum and 2 million different species of invertebrates.

General Characteristics of Invertebrates

Some invertebrate characteristics are shared across the board. For example, the one main characteristic that sets them apart from other animals is their lack of a backbone and spinal column. Also, despite the fact that they are multi-cellular, they in fact lack cell walls.

Due to their lack of complex skeletal system, invertebrates also tend to be smaller and slow moving in nature, but there are of course exceptions. Giant squids, for example, can grow to be upwards of 17 yards long, 2,200 pounds, and can reach speeds of 35 miles per hour.

Their lack of backbones and complex nervous systems make it very difficult for invertebrates to be adaptive to multiple environments as well. This is not to say that they all float in the ocean. Invertebrates can be found in myriad climate zones, ranging from dry deserts to swamplands. In fact, they essentially span the entire globe and even make up 98% of all the living creatures on this planet.

Learnt: Invertebrates are usually slow-moving in nature due to their over simple skeletal system, which also means they are generally smaller than vertebrates There are some exceptions thou, like the giant squid.

Discovered: There are more invertebrates on earth than i thought- they make up 98% of living creatures on this planet, because due to their adaptations and size, they can exist by the billions on this planet.

I learnt that it is harder for invertebrates to adapt to changes in their environment due to their lack of complex skeletal system and there are over 2 million different species of invertebrates. I also discovered that most invertebrates do not have a brain but some actually do even though they lack complex skeletal systems to hold their brain.

From this reading, I had learnt that there are actually some differences between invertebrates and the other classifications of living things. One of the differences is that invertebrates do not have a backbone or a spinal columns.

The general characteristics of an invertebrate animal is that it does not have a backbone and spinal columns. Its cells also does not have a cell wall though it is multi-cellular.I had also found out the reason why invertebrates are smaller and slow moving - they do not have a complete skeletal system.

I learnt that invertebrates are generally smaller than vertebrates. They do not have a skeletal system and they make up 98% of the creatures on earth. It is also very difficult for them to adapt to multiple environments.